Sourcing comparison · Kitchen Appliances
Tariff & fee savings only, assuming equal product cost — your actual landed cost also depends on price and freight, which vary by supplier.
| Annual import value | Estimated duty & fee savings / year |
|---|---|
| $50,000 | $264 |
| $250,000 | $1,319 |
| $1,000,000 | $5,275 |
Savings scale linearly with volume. Enter your exact figure to model it precisely.
Calculate your exact volume →If your kitchen appliances currently ships from Mexico, the duty bill is worth a second look. The effective rate falls from 13% on Mexico shipments to 12.5% on South Korea shipments — close to $528 per $100,000 of imports each year. Two suppliers can quote the same factory price and still land at very different costs once Customs is done. Below, each tariff layer is laid out for both origins, with the saving scaled to several order sizes.
Both stacks share the same customs valuation, so the comparison is apples to apples. From Mexico, the entry is assessed a 3% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 10% forced-labor Section 301 duty on its kitchen appliances, an effective 13% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Shipped out of South Korea, the product is hit with a 3% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 9.5% forced-labor Section 301 duty on its kitchen appliances, an effective 12.5% once the $49.74 in processing fees are added. Two charges are origin-blind — the MPF and HMF, together $49.74 on this entry — which is why the entire difference lives in the duty layers. That leaves a $52.75 gap on every $10,000 of goods, driven entirely by the 0.5% spread in effective duty rate. Multiply across your volume and it is near $132 for $25,000 and about $528 for $100,000 a year. Per $25,000 order, $132 separates the two origins — small per shipment, compounding fast across a program.
The category, HTS 8509, 8516, takes in Coffee makers, Blenders, Microwaves, Air fryers, Instant pots, Toasters, and Dishwashers among other kitchen appliances. Demand for kitchen appliances is broad and price-sensitive, which is exactly why a duty wedge of this size reshapes who can supply the US market competitively. USMCA-qualifying appliances from Mexico may qualify for 0% or reduced duty. Based in North America, Mexico is best known to US importers for passenger vehicles, auto parts components, and consumer electronics. Mexico's USMCA membership can zero out duties on qualifying kitchen appliances (USMCA 0%, except Section 338 annex goods), which is why it so often undercuts non-agreement origins. Based in Asia-Pacific, South Korea is best known to US importers for consumer electronics, passenger vehicles, and steel iron products. For South Korea, a negotiated bilateral rate applies on kitchen appliances entries alongside the base and Section 232/301 layers, now that Section 122 has lapsed to 0%. Different regions — North America versus Asia-Pacific — mean shipping economics deserve a look beside the tariff math. A switch to South Korea still hinges on capacity, certification and lead time, but the duty advantage is the part that is already quantified. Because surcharges have stacked rates well above their statutory base, country of origin has become a first-order cost driver for kitchen appliances rather than a footnote.
For $100,000 a year of kitchen appliances, the move from Mexico to South Korea is worth about $528, scaling to $264 at $50,000, $1,319 at $250,000, and $5,275 at $1,000,000. Every figure is produced by the same tariff engine behind the site's calculators, holding FOB value, freight and insurance constant so only the duty effect of origin shows through. These figures reflect tariff and fee savings only, assuming equal product cost — your actual landed cost also depends on price and freight, which vary by supplier. Treat the annual saving as the ceiling on switching cost: as long as moving to South Korea costs less than that, the change is accretive. Request parallel quotes from your Mexico incumbent and a vetted South Korea source, then compare landed cost with the duty gap held constant. Re-run the figures close to your decision: the duty landscape for kitchen appliances has shifted repeatedly through the year. Run your own volume — and a post-Section-122 view — through the interactive Tariff Savings Finder.
At $100,000 of annual import value, switching from Mexico to South Korea saves an estimated $528 in duties and fees, because the effective tariff rate falls from 13% to 12.5%. The saving scales linearly with volume. These figures reflect tariff and fee savings only, assuming equal product cost — your actual landed cost also depends on price and freight, which vary by supplier.
South Korea-origin kitchen appliances is assessed a 3% Most-Favoured-Nation base duty and a 9.5% forced-labor Section 301 duty, for an effective 12.5% duty rate before the Merchandise Processing Fee ($36.55) and Harbor Maintenance Fee ($13.19).
Mexico carries an effective 13% rate versus 12.5% for South Korea. The gap comes from differences in the base, Section 232 and bilateral rates that apply to each origin.
Tariff rates from Tax Foundation, USITC, and Penn Wharton Budget Model; retaliatory and industry data from the ITA Foreign Retaliations Database and U.S. Census Bureau (NAICS). Last verified .
